Earlier today Greenpeace released a report which said that most of the salmon bought from UK supermarkets contain trace amounts of a radioactive compound called Technetium-99 (TC99) - a waste product of the nuclear industry.

However, in 1998 John Prescott promised Europe that the UK would reduce radioactive pollution from Sellafield. Instead discharges have increased and are set to double over the next few years. This will mean increased levels of nuclear contamination in the food chain, and high levels have already been found in lobsters and other shellfish...

The fact that fish in British water contain radioactive compounds should, however, come as no surprise. ..

Also, in May 2002 the UK's Royal Society published a damning report on the preparations that have been put in place, by successive UK governments, in order to deal with the country's existing and mounting nuclear waste. The report recommends urgent action to strengthen + reform key institutions, the enhancement of independent scientific research and substantial new investment in order to permit the rapid deployment of the best available technologies (not entailing excessive economic cost).

According to Bellona the situation is even worse in Russia where dangerously full reservoirs containing radioactive sludge at Russia's nuclear re-processing plant in Mayak, Siberia pose a huge threat to the entire Arctic...